Hungarian Grammar for Beginners

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In English you always need to use any pronoun (direct, indirect, demonstrative…) irregardless of whether the verb refers to an indefinite or definite object/person.

I’m writing a letter. I’m writing the letter.

The object is ’letter’ and our verb ’write’ is the same in both sentences. The indefiniteness and definiteness of ’letter’ are expressed with the indefinite and definite articles ’a, the’. Here’s the Hungarian translation:

As you can see, the Hungarian verb ’ír-write’ has two different conjugations. The indefinite conjugation requires the -ok suffix in 1st person singular present tense, whereas the definite conjugation in the same person/number/tense is formed with the -om suffix. The indefinite and definite articles are used accordingly.

So far so good. But what if we get a question like ’Are you writing a/the letter’? How do you answer that question?

The pronoun ’it’ refers back to ’a letter’ and ’the letter’. In the same way, the Hungarian demonstrative pronoun ’az’ turns into an accusative pronoun ’azt’ to refer back to ’egy levelet’ and ’a levelet’.
And that’s when omitting pronouns becomes relevant. In everyday language, we do tend to ”forget” saying certain pronouns when the context is clear and we know for sure what we are talking about. So the above-mentioned answers can be turned into:

Igen, írok. Igen, írom.

It is more common, though, that we leave out pronouns when the verbs are in definite conjugation. Since the definite conjugation already refers to the object, there is no confusion about the context. Let’s see more examples with other pronouns, too. So that you know what I omit, I’ll parenthesize the pronouns. It is also evident from the examples that English has to use those pronouns.

-Látod a lányt? – Igen, látom (őt).
-Can you see the girl? – Yes, I can see her.

The problem starts when there seems to be no context like in this question:

-Látod? – Can you see it?

We translate it with ’can you see it’ because ’látod’ is obviously in definite conjugation. The speaker knows exactly what he sees and that’s why he’s asking ’Látod?’.

-Látod? – Can you see it?
-Semmit nem látok. Te mit látsz? – I can’t see anything. What can you see?
-A boltot. – The shop.
-Igen, már látom. – Yes, I can see it now.

The other person answers ’nem látok’ in indefinite conjugation because he cannot see anything. And ’anything/nothing’ is something indefinite. So is ’something’, by the way :). Then he asks ’mit látsz’ in indefinite conjugation because he still cannot see anything. Finally, the speaker clarifies ’boltot’. So the other person answers ’látom’ in definite conjugation. Now he knows exactly what he sees. It does not matter if the answer is affirmative or negative. The same rules apply.

The verb ’köszön’ has two meanings ’to say thank you’ and ’to greet’. If it means ’to say thank you’, it is transitive, so Hungarian people thank something, and not thank for something. On the other hand, if you greet someone, it is transitive in English, but it requires an indirect object in Hungarian. Actually, we say ’greet to someone = köszön valakinek’.

-Köszönöm a visszajárót! – Köszöntem önnek, amikor bejöttem? – Igen, ön mindig köszön nekem.
-Thank you for the change. – Did I greet you when I entered? – Yes, you always greet me.

The difficulty also lies in the different use of verbs in English and Hungarian. A verb that is transitive in English might be intransitive in Hungarian and viceversa. In the above-mentioned sentence you can’t use ’köszön’ in definite conjugation because it is not transitive. It cannot require an object.
Let’s contrast indefinite and definite conjugation with ’ért’.

’Minden’ is indefinite or general, so ’értek’ is in indefinite conjugation.

PROBLEMS WITH ACCUSATIVE PRONOUNS

As languages do not consist of rules that always make sense, we have to be prepared to learn odd things. That is the case with accusative pronouns if you conjugate verbs in definite mode. To make this problem tangible, I’ll use the accusative pronouns ’őt’ and ’engem’.

Látom őt. – I can see him.
Látod őt. – You can see him.
Látja őt. – He can see him.
Látjuk őt. – We can see him.
Látjátok őt. – You can see him.
Látják őt. – They can see him.

’Lát’ is in definite conjugation in every number/person. But what if we use ’engem’?

Lát engem. – He can see me.
Lát téged. – He can see you.
Látja őt. – He can see him.
Lát minket. – He can see us.
Lát titeket. – He can see you.
Látja őket. – He can see them.

’Lát’ is used in definite conjugation only when referring to the accusative pronoun in 3rd person singular and 3rd person plural. In any other number/person (engem, téged, minket, titeket) ’lát’ is in indefinite conjugation.

If there is an accusative pronoun, one would think it is definite. Well, it’s no use asking why it is that way. It just is. I couldn’t find any explanation why this phenomenon had developed the way it is. Something for you to struggle with :). So let’s ask more questions and give the right answers.

-WITH THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE. The article is egy in singular. There is no form for it in plural or it can be expressed with néhány (some). The indefinite article and néhány are not mandatory to use. When we omit them, the noun in accusative case begins the sentence. Also, note that néhány requires the noun to be singular.

-WITH THE INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS when asking about the unknown. If you don’t know something, it is unknown to you, so it is not possible to ask such questions with verbs conjugated with definite suffixes.

And the verb in the answer either agrees with the question or not. That is, if the answer contains the indefinite article, indefinite pronouns, interrogative pronouns or simply refers to something unspecific/unknown, then the verb is conjugated with indefinite suffixes.

However, if we answer with something specific, we have to conjugate the verb with the definite suffixes, even though it is conjugated with the indefinite ones in the question.

-Mit tud felhozni mentségére?
-What can he mention in his defence?
-Nos, sok dolgottud felhozni.
-Well, he can mention lots of things.
-Nos, a fáradságot tudja felhozni.
-Well, he can mention the tiredness.

Of course, if you ask about something specific, you use definite conjugation in questions, as well.

-Melyiket szereted? A szőke vagy a barna lányt?
-Which one do you love? The blonde or the brunette girl?
–A barnát szeretem. A szőkének nincs humora.
-I love the brunette one. The blonde one has no humor.

Pronouns are words replacing nouns, noun phrases. As there is no distinction between genders, there are no masculine or feminine pronouns!

Hungarian personal pronouns are only used when putting emphasis on the subject. This phenomenon is due to the definite conjugation of verbs alluding to the subject in the first place, plus suffixes are attached to the verb indicating mood, tense, number, person.

The personal pronouns are:

én – I >> never capitalized unless when beginning a sentencete – you >> not equal to 2nd PP!ő – she/he/it >> only one pronoun for he/shemi – we >> mi is just weti – you >> not equal to 2nd PS!ők – they >> ő + plural suffix -k = ők

Hungarian still makes a wide use of shouting someone’s first or last name (which is the exact opposite in Hungarian. If your name is John Smith, Hungarian says Smith John: family name first + given name!).

The pronouns for this purpose are: maga, maguk, ön, önök

And right here we should divide these formalities in two groups: informal polite form and formal polite form

Informal polite form is expressed by maga (for 3rd PS), maguk (for 3rd PP). You use these pronouns when talking to someone you know or don’t know (yet), but that person is not superior than you: neighbour, shop assistant, old lady at the bus stop…

You see these sentences are the same without a personal pronoun! And there’s no need to use them, if the situation is unambiguous. If you talk to your teacher, obviously you call him MAGA or ÖN = you, and you don’t mean Ő = he, she.

If you talk to your friend standing next to you about a third person (your teacher), it is obvious you’re talking about the teacher.

So use these pronouns if the person in question cannot be understood from the context.

Hungarian accusative pronouns are rarely used because verbs with definite conjugation already allude to the direct object. That doesn’t mean that you must not use them if you want. Their use, however, needs some explanation.

The explanation is all about topic-prominent aspect meaning the most important information goes to the beginning of the sentence. Following this reasoning, accusative pronouns follow the verb if not emphased, but precede the verb if emphased. When preceding the verb, they are mandatory to use. When following the verb, they are optional to use.When Hungarian accusative pronouns are emphased, English uses verbal emphasis on the direct pronoun.

NOTE! The 3rd PS and 3rd PP reflexive pronouns MAGA, MAGUKhave the same form as the 3rd PS and 3rd PP polite personal pronouns! So be careful:

Látja magát. – He can see you (Sir).Látja magát. – He can see himself.

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

Hungarian doesn’t always need reflexive pronouns because the -ik verbs assume this role. Sometimes English doesn’t need these pronouns when Hungarian does. It’s all about a knowledge of vocabulary and experience and not about a strict rule. Some examples:

Megmosakszik. – He washes (himself).Hungarian uses an -ik verb, English uses a verb with or without a reflexive pronoun.

So it’s really about vocabulary.

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS WITH SUFFIXES

These pronouns can take almost all kind of suffixes. You don’t need to know their function yet. I just want to show you what they look like with suffixes. Let’s use the 3rd PS form MAGA (himself, herself, itself). Of course, you use deep-vowel suffixes because reflexive pronouns are deep-vowel words.

Ismerjük egymást. – We know each other.Egymással beszélgetnek. – They’re talking (to each other).Egymástól várnak segítséget. – They wait for help from each other.
Láttuk egymást a moziban. – We saw each other in the cinema.

And now we’ll try to absorb a bigger slice of the pronouns. We talk about demonstrative pronouns. It is a longer topic because there are demonstrative pronouns for quality, place, manner and so on. Today’s topic:

*1 ezen, azon: in this combination the z does not assimilate.*2 ehhez, ahhoz: in this combination the double h is NOT DOUBLED IN SPEECH!*3 eddig, addig: in this combination the z is replaced with the double d!*4 evvel, avval: in this combination the z is replaced with the double v!

In the plural there is no assimilation: azokban, ezekig, ezeknek, azokra…

LET’S PRACTISE EZ, AZ

Remember! If ez, az stands alone you don’t need the definite article: Ezt akarom. Azt láttam. If ez, az are followed by a noun, you need the definite article: ez a ház, az a tévé. In both case, ez and az can take a variety of suffixes. If followed by a noun, the noun takes the same suffix according to vowel harmony!

így – like thisúgy – like thatilyen módon – in this wayolyan módon – in that way

Obviously it is impossible for these pronouns to take suffixes.

Examples:

Ez így nem mehet tovább.
It can’t go on like that anymore.

Úgy van, ahogy mondod.
It’s exactly as you say. (úgy not present in this English sentence)

Így akar rávenni, hogy elmenj vele.
He want to persuade you to go with him like this.

Az nem úgy van ám!
Things are not done like that at all!

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS OF PLACE

This is the part where the three directions phenomenon should be mentioned. This phenomenon means that Hungarian has three question words for certain directions and the answers must be adjusted to those questions.

Itt adják a legjobb pizzát. – The best pizza is served at this place.
Ne menj oda! – Don’t go over there.Onnan jövök. – I’m coming from there.
Ki rakta a széket ide? – Who put the chair over here?Innen nem látni semmit. – You can’t see anything from here.

These pronouns can be emphased but are not often heard: emitt, amott, emide, amoda, eminnen, amonnan.

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS OF QUALITY

These are:

ilyen – such, such a, like this, of this kindolyan – such, such a, like that, of that kind

It is not rare in Hungarian that close things are expressed with high-vowel words (ez, így, ilyen, itt), remote things with deep-vowel words (az, úgy, olyan, ott).

As adjectives, ilyen/olyan don’t have a plural form! As adverbs they have the plural and can take suffixes.

Mi? can take almost all kind of suffixes: Mibe? Miről? Mihez? and so on…

What you should be careful with is that it must be accusative in certain sentences, so it becomes: Mit?

Mi van ott a padon? – What is on the bench over there?Mit akarsz? – What do you want?Mit tudnak az esetről? – What do they know about the case?

Many times the English preposition and the Hungarian suffix cannot be translated literally:

Mihez értesz? – What are you proficient in?Mitől féltek? – What are you afraid of?Mibe tegyük a ruhákat? – What shall we put the clothes in(to)?Mire valók a barátok? – What are friends for?Mikor érkezik? – When will he arrive? (Mi + -kor = Mikor – When; you see you already know another question word)Minek jöttél ide? – What did you come here for? (Mi + -nek = Minek – Why; it is a less polite form for Miért?)Miért jöttél ide? – Why did you come here? (Mi + -ért = Miért – Why; the suffix -ért expresses for, for sake of)

KI? = WHO?

It can take a lot of suffixes, except -ig. It would sound strange with -ig.

It is a high-vowel word just like ‘Mi?‘.

Ki van ott? – Who‘s there?Kit láttál? – Who did you see?Kiről beszél? – Who is he talking about?Kitől futottál el? – Who did you run away from?Kiért teszed ezt? – Who are you doing this for?Kihez utazol el? – Who will you depart to?

and so on…

You see that Ki? takes high-vowel suffixes -ről, -től…

MIÉRT? = WHY?

This question is formed with: Mi? + -ért. The suffix -ért is equivalent to the English preposition ‘for’. So the Hungarian question literally is: For what?

A synonym for Miért? is Minek? but it sounds a little bit less polite. Sometimes it has a “despising” effect.

Minek jöttél ide? – What did you come here for?Minek sírsz? – Why (for god’s sake) are you crying?Minek akarsz a városba menni? – What are you going downtown for?

Basically, the suffixes -nak, -nek and -ért mean the same thing: for, to. With -ért, the question is more polite.

NOTE! In the spoken language Miért? is often said like Mért? or an even more vulgar form is Mér?. I do not recommend using these ‘slang’ forms because it might be confusing with a certain conjunction: mert = because

You see Mért? and mert is almost the same, hence a possible confusion.

Always say and write Why? as: MIÉRT?

HOGY ? = HOW? and MILYEN? = HOW?

These two question words are the same in English, so be careful:

– Hogy? is used when one is interested in a mood or condition. It CAN’T take suffixes.
– Milyen? is used if you want to know about quality, characteristic. Besides, it CAN take suffixes.

So in more details:

Hogy? = How?Milyen? = How? What…like? What kind of…?

EXAMPLES FOR MILYEN?

–Milyen a nővéred? –Kedves.
–What is your sister like? -She’s kind.

–Milyen idő van? –Esős.
–How is the weather? -It’s rainy.

-Kocsit veszel? Milyenre gondoltál?
-You buy a car? What car do you have in mind?

Milyen fonnyadt az a barack!How parched that peach is!

EXAMPLES FOR HOGY?

–Hogy vagy? –Jól.
–How are you? –Fine.

Elnézést, hogy mondta?
Pardon. What did you say?

Hogy engedhetted ezt meg neki?How could you allow him to do this?

Hogy áll a helyzet?How do things stand with you?

NOTE! Hogy? has another longer form Hogyan?. There is no difference in meaning. Use whichever you want. BUT Hogyan? cannot take any suffixes, either!

HÁNY? = HOW MANY? and MENNYI? = HOW MUCH?

The problem with these Hungarian questions is that they don’t specifically refer to countable and uncountable nouns. They refer to both. However, Hány? cannot be used with uncountable nouns. Mennyi? can be used for both. I think you understand what I mean by ‘problem’.

Both can be made accusative, dative, instrumental. The plural wouldn’t really make any sense.

Examples:

–Hányember van a buszon? –Tizenöt.
–Mennyiember van a buszon? –Tizenöt.
–How manypeople are there on the bus. –Fifteen.

This question requires a specific answer, therefore the question itself is made specific with the suffix -ik. In such sentences, the English answer often contains the word: one. One is equal to accusative case in Hungarian.

Melyik fiút szereted? A magasat.Which boy do you love? The tall one.

Melyik várost kedveled jobban? Rómát.Which city do you prefer? Rome.

Melyik gombot kell megnyomni? A harmadikat.Which button is to be pressed? The third one.

Melyik lányt nézed? Az egyiket.Which girl are you watching? One of them.

Of course, you can make this question accusative, dative, instrumental and add suffixes to it.

Melyiket keresed? A kéket.Which are you looking for? The blue one.

Melyiknek dobtad a labdát? A szemüvegesnek.Who did you throw the ball at? The one with the glasses.
(Note that Melyik? also refers to people)

Melyikkel játszol? Azzal.Which are you playing with? That one.

As you see above in this sentence “Mely vállalatok élték túl a válságot?”, you use Mely? and make the noun plural if you talk about more things/people. But it’s not really necessary. You can also ask:

Mely vállalat élte túl a válságot? Mindegyik.

We’re finished with interrogative pronouns for now. Hol? Hova? Honnan? will be dealt with when we talk about other suffixes.

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

It’s quite a massive issue, so I’ll try to make it as simple as possible for you.

First let’s see how you form indefinite pronouns like this: somebody, nothing, anywhere…

The formation goes with these prefixes:

VALA- = SOME-AKÁR-, BÁR- = ANY-SE- = NO-, ANY-MINDEN-, MIND- = EVERY-

The indefinite pronouns with akár- and bár- mean the same, so you can use the prefix you like more. The only combination impossible for bár- is with the question Hány?. There is no such wordbárhány. The word akárhányissaid instead.

SE-:some forms take double -m, one form needs an n consonant inserted!semmi – nothingsenki – nobodysemmiért – for no reasonsemmikor – at no time, neversehogy – nowhow, by no meanssemmilyen – no kind ofsemelyik – none of themsemeddig – for no time; no distancesemennyi – no amount ofsehány – no number of; not onesehol – nowheresehova – (to) nowheresehonnan – from nowheresemennyire – to no degree

MINDEN-:some of these forms don’t really queue up in the line of the pronouns above.minden – everythingmindenki – everybodymindenért – for everthingmindenkor – always, at any timemindenképpen – anyway, by all meansmindenféle – all kinds ofmindegyik – all of themvégig – all along; to the very endmindahány – allmindenhol – everwheremindenhova – (to) everywheremindenhonnan – from everywhere

The prefix minden- cannot be combined with Mennyi?.

Some other meanings for certain pronouns: valamennyi, mindahány, valahány = all (of them)

So much for these basic pronouns. In part 2, we’ll take a look at some other indefinite pronouns (many, much, little, few, either…).

CAREFUL WITH: az egész. When fitted with the definite article, it requires singular and means: the entire, the whole. When NOT fitted with the definite article, it requires plural and means: whole. Take a look at this:

Finally we got to possession. And now I’m telling you what I’ve been telling you all along. Remember how to make nouns plural because that can help when we discuss the possessive case. But first an evident question:

DO I HAVE TO HAVE?

And the answer is NO. English uses the verb ‘to have’, a transitive verb to express possession: I have a house, They have no money…

Hungarian, in turn, uses a whole different method when it comes to expressing possession of this kind. Even if there is a verb similar to ‘to have’, birtokolni, it would sound constrained if we wanted to use this verb for this special purpose. Hungarian uses such a construction: DATIVE PRONOUN + SUBSTANTIVE VERB 3rd PS or 3rd PP + INDEFINITE ARTICLE + NOUN WITH POSSESSIVE ENDING

I know it’s long to write it down like that, so let’s see this example: I have ahouse – Nekemvanegyházam.

In everyday language, the dative pronoun and the indefinite article are omitted or can be omitted, so you can also say: Van házam. So it is mandatory to use the substantive verb van/vannak and the noun with its possessive endings. More examples:

Sok türelmükvan. – They have a lot of patience.
Macskáid is vannak? – Do you have some cats, too?Nincs pénzem. – I have no money.

NOTE! The substantive verb is van or vannak, depending on whether someone owns one thing or more than one thing. The negative form isnincs/nincsenek:

Nincs autóm. – I have no car./ Nincsenek barátaim – I have no friends. Summary:

Because of the topic-prominent aspect, you can also say: Autóm nincs. Házunk van. In this case you put an emphasis on what you have: It is a carthat I don’t have. It is a housethat we have. But English usually solves this problem with verbal emphasis. The bold letters show the most important thing in the sentence now. So here are your possibilities:

Van barátnőm. – I have a girlfriend.Barátnőm van. – I have a girlfriend. (It is a girlfriend that I have)Nincs barátnőm. – I have no girlfriend.Barátnőm nincs. – As for a girlfriend, I don’t have any.

ONE MORE THING! I forgot to mention that the singular negative verb nincs has another version: nincsen. You choose which to use.

POSSESSIVE CASE

Once again, I presume you already know how to make nouns plural!! That knowledge will help you deal with the possessive case, just as it helped you with the accusative case.

First we should make it clear: there is no genitive in Hungarian. It is called the possessive case.

Alrighty. Hungarian possession is expressed withpossessive endings and possessive pronouns. And the English equivalents are:

Apparently, there is only one ending for all numbers/persons. It looks like there are too many because link vowels are added to them if needed. It is always -m for 1st PS and we add link vowels if needed. It is always -d for 2nd PS and we add link vowels if needed. Etc.

NOTE! No different ending for masculine and feminine as Hungarian doesn’t care about genders. It’s just about the right possessive ending for high and deep-vowel words.

Let’s get started!

Group 1:The vowels A, E become Á, É when at the very end of a noun (like nouns: apa – apák)

méhei– her wombs (méh has two meaning: bee and womb)
fejei– his heads
begyei– its crops
gyerekei – his children
asztalai – his tables
fényei– his lights
kulacsai – his gourds
hasai – his stomachs
bajuszai – his moustaches (if it made sense in plural) 🙂
mezei– his shirts
varázsai – his magics

Simple. The definite articles (a, az) are ALWAYS used with possessive case except one occasion when it is optional. It is optional when the sentence begins with a noun in the possessive case. Then you can choose if you use it or not.

That’s the plural for the possessive case. More next time, but first practise possessive plural with these words. I’ll give you the person and number you should put these nouns in. ONE PROPERTY means you use the singular endings. MORE PROPERTIES means you use the plural endings.

Example: macska – macskám(1st PS) one property

ebéd – ______________ (3rd PS) one property

férj – ______________ (1st PP) one property

ház – _______________ (2nd PS) more properties

gyerek – ______________ (2nd PP) more properties

adat – ________________ (3rd PS) more properties

SOLUTION TO THE EXERCISES

ebédje

férjünk

házaid

gyerekeitek

adataik

A T T E N T I O N!

3rd person singular az ő háza = his house
az ő házuk = their house

3rd person plural az ő házai = his houses
az ő házaik = their houses

POSSESSIVE WITH ACCUSATIVE CASE

Once learned how to form the singular and plural in possessive case, you only add –at or -et to the word.

BUT!

The form of 1st and 2nd person singular do not necessarily require the accusative case. Those forms can be considered both subjective and accusative as they are. You choose if you make accusative those forms!

This summary shows you which endings can have link vowels and how they change in the plural.

EMPHASIS ON THE POSSESSOR

So far, we haven’t really dealt with personal pronouns. It is because Hungarian personal pronouns are only used in point of possession when the possessor needs to be stressed. In this case, the definite article must be used. Example:

If you want to stress the possessor even more, put the possessive pronoun at the beginning of the sentence. You can do that due to the topic-prominent aspect: Enyém a megtiszteltetés. – The honour is mine.

NOTE! tied also has this form: tiéd AND mienk has this form: miénk. The e can be an é in the singular form. No difference in meaning. You choose which to use.

A kocsi a tied. – The car is yours.
A kocsi a tiéd. – The car is yours.

As the substantive verb (van, vannak) is not used in 3rd PS and 3rd PP (as you see in the examples), think of the definite article replacing the substantive verb in a such a context: A kocsi a tied. – The car is yours.

WHOSE?

The question Whose? is Kié? in Hungarian. Kié? is is the combination of the interrogative word Ki? (Who?) + the suffix -é, which is the equivalent to the English …’s: Whose is this book? It’s Peter‘s.

There are two questions for Whose?: Kié? Kinek a? There is no difference between them, use whichever you want.

The answer (the possessor) gets that -é suffix attached to the end of a common noun or a proper name, too:

You see it doesn’t matter which question word you use. Kié? is just as good as Kinek a(z)?, but note the grammatical issues in those two sentences.

Kié? does not require the property (könyv) to have a possessive ending.Kinek a? requires the property (könyve) to have a possessive ending.

And the explanation is simple. Remember this? “A férfi felesége” (The man’s wife): feleség needs the possessive ending-e because that expresses a possession. And the sentence also can be: a férfinak a felesége. But you don’t have to use -nak a, -nek a if you don’t want to, or there is no need for it (Remember all those stuff? ).

That’s why the property needs a possessive ending when answering to Kinek a? As this question has -nek a in it, we insert the sema suffix in the answer, too. (Am I complicated enough ?)

You also can make those questions plural (Kiék? Kiknek a?)if you ask about more properties, but the answer already indicates if there is one or more than one property.

Alright. Digest this part first and next time I’ll tell you more about it. Til then, examples for you:

A kép az enyém. / A képek az enyéim.
A kép a tied. / A képek a tieid.
A kép az övé. / A képek az övéi.
A kép a mienk. / A képek a mieink.
A kép a tietek. / A képek a tieitek.
A kép az övék. / A képek az övéik.

A felelősség a miénk. – The responsibility is ours.Miénk a felelősség. – The responsibility is ours. Ours is the responsibility.

A házad nagy. – Your house is big.
A nagy ház a tiéd. – The big house is yours.Tiéd a nagy ház. – The big house is yours. Yours is the big house.

OF VS. ‘S

If you want to express that something belongs to someone, you use the preposition of, or you attach ‘s to the end of the noun, or both: John‘s wife, the essence of the question, the color of the dog‘s kennel

Such Hungarian sentences are formed with the possessive endings and these suffixes: -nak a, -nek a

With one property, these suffixes can be omitted. With more properties, -nak a, -nek a must be used at least with one of the properties.

John‘s wife – Jánosnaka felesége OR János felesége
the essence of the question – a kérdésneka lényege OR a kérdés lényege
the color of the dog‘s kennel – a kutya házánaka színe

In the first two examples there is only one property: wife, essence. In the third one we have two properties: color, kennel, so it is a must to use -nak a with ház. You don’t have to use it with kutya because that would sound constrained. BUT it is always important to have a possessive ending attached to the property which sometimes is present before -nak a, -nek a, too(a házának a: because ház is a possessor and a property!)

The Hungarian word order is the same when English uses ‘s: POSSESSOR +PROPERTY!

a kocsi kereke OR a kocsinaka kereke (the wheel of the car; literally: the car’s wheel)

After all, it’s not the same: az ember(nek a) hatalma – the power of the man (the man’s power)
ORa hatalom(nak az) embere – the man of the power (the power’s man)

The very first reason the definite conjugation developed is not the fact that Hungarian people were eager to refer to specific/definite objects with a different conjugation type. The reason the definite conjugation survived the language reforms is: COMPRESSION.

Compressing the meaning of the direct object makes sentences shorter and allows to express nuances, as well as the use of the accusative and dative pronouns (may) become obsolete.

It is the same pattern. Either you need two pronouns (English, German) or you need one pronoun and you conjugate the verb (Italian, Spanish). The point is that you always form sentences of this kind in these languages.

What is the Hungarian translation?

Hungarian: Írok neked egy levelet. OR Írok egy levelet.

If you know who you’re talking about, you can omit the dative pronoun neked. Let’s say we’re in this situation:

You’re walking on the street and you meet an old friend.

You: I haven’t seen you for ages.
Friend: I know. It’s been a long time since high-school.
You: We really should meet sometime.
Friend: Yes, we should. I’ll give you my address.
You: Then I’ll write you a letter and we’ll see the rest.

(Of course, nowadays you would write an e-mail or make a call, but that doesn’t matter now.)

So we have this conversation where it is obvious who’s talking to who and who’s giving the address / writing a letter to who. English can’t make it in a different way, it uses the personal pronoun I and the indirect pronoun (dative pronoun) you actually meaning to you.

And that’s when Hungarian says ’BULLSHIT!’ Why should I refer to someone if I know exactly who the talk is about? So I just forget about the fact that dative pronouns even exist because I write a letter to you and I give my address to you, obviously.

Wait a sec! You can omit dative (and accusative) pronouns with indefinite conjugation, as well? Sure you can. That’s the beauty of the Hungarian language.

Take a look at the English sentences if we omit the pronouns. Is the text understandable anyway?

You: I haven’t seen you for ages.
Friend: I know. It’s been a long time since high-school.
You: We really should meet sometime.
Friend: Yes, we should. I’ll give my address.
You: Then I’ll write a letter and we’ll see the rest.

YES, IT IS! It might sound strange like that, but everything is understandable from the context.

And this phenomenon works for all numbers and persons, not just for the I-you relation. Nevertheless, you need to have a context giving you a hint who or what the talk is about. With no context, that’s what we get:

Elmondod? Will you tell?

Tell? Who should I tell? There is no context whatsoever for me to deduce who I should tell. However, it is already unambiguous what I should tell. That’s why the definite conjugation is used. You could complete the question like this:

Elmondod azt? Will you tell about that?

But you don’t need to. The definite conjugation already refers to azt. What we don’t know is who the person is we should tell. It’s impossible to figure out with no context. Let’s give it a context.

Girl1: I cheated on my boyfriend last night?
Girl2: Will you tell him (about that)?

This phenomenon needs to be getting used to, indeed. While other languages use accusative pronouns when saying
’I love/hate/hear/see/understand you’, Hungarian uses the suffixes -lak, -lek which you should think of as a compound pronoun = I-you. So the examples above sound like this ’Szeretlek/Utállak/Hallak/Látlak/Értelek’.

Nonetheless, the issue can give you a little bit more headache than you’d like to get because -lak, -lek refer to both the 2nd person singular YOU-TÉGED and the 2nd person plural YOU-TITEKET. Usually it’s understandable from the context which of the two the speaker means. Plus, it is optional whether or not you want to say those two pronouns. They are not mandatory to omit. So another possibility for the examples above is:

Now the fundamental confusion comes from which form of the verb you attach these suffixes to. Actually, it’s present tense you should worry about. From logical point of view, when one says
’I…you’, that person refers to you as specific target. That’s why you take the 3rd person singular definite conjugation form in all tenses but present tense. Present tense thinks it’s better and wants you to attach -lak, -lek to the 3rd person singular indefinite conjugation form. Why? I can give you one reasonable answer to that: The hell knows. It is the way it is. 🙂